THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
Photograph by Nevin O. Winter
UKRAINIAN PEASANT WOMEN IN THE STREETS OF KHARKOV: RUSSIA
In summertime these countrywomen come to the city barefooted in order to save shoe
leather, which is very expensive in a land that annually exports hundreds of thousands of
hides in times of peace.
Kiev and dug a cell for himself in the
hill. The devout life of this monk soon
drew other holy men around him, and all
at first made their homes in the caves.
It is said that many of the early monks
never again emerged into daylight after
they once entered the caves. Some shut
themselves up in niches and remained
self-immured the rest of their days, liv
ing on the food placed there each day by
their brothers. When the food remained
untouched, the monks knew that a saintly
spirit had fled. The place was then walled
in, and the niche remained the monk's
home after as well as before his dissolu
tion.
KIEV'S GHASTLY CATACOMBS
The catacombs are indeed ghastly to
visit, for there are rows upon rows of
skulls in them. Access is had by narrow
steps, and then through labyrinthine sub
terranean passages one descends deeper
and deeper into the bowels of the earth,
winding hither and thither along a path
way. Finally there begins a series of
niches, in which repose the bodies of the
saintly recluses.
The pilgrims pass each holy tomb, rev
erently kissing the shriveled hands laid
out by the monks for that purpose. They
do not distinguish between the holy and
the holier, but pay a tribute to each one
impartially in order to conciliate all.
Much contagion must be spread by this
unsanitary method of homage. No doubt
many an infection, and possibly even a
great pestilence, could be traced directly
to this spot, where the indiscriminate
osculation of church relics is observed.
ICON RECEIVES 100,000 KISSES A YEAR
The Cave Monastery, or Pechersky
Lavra, is a large stone structure on the
hill, at a little distance from the city, and
is surrounded by a high stone wall. It is
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